Hello,

Recently my husband and I was away overseas for more than a week. Our friend who loves fur babies had been over our place a few times to see our gliders and agreed to babysit.

I gave her all my BML, fruits and vegetables, made clear the feeding and play time routine. We passed her our tent too.

When we went to fetch them, even the crabby Ellie looked glad to see us, coming to the door to greet us all. They've grown too! and we're quite happy with that.

Upon bringing them home, first thing I noticed was Effie has cracked fur and less fluffy tail. They ate ALOT on the first 2 days home, double BML portion. I put 1 portion out at 8pm and it's gone by 11pm. I put another portion overnight since they looked so hungry.

Then I notice they are sometimes wet, indicating that either or both pee in their sleep (or while in their sleeping pouch/ball). Fourthly they smell, even though they've been eating the same food? (the smell could be from them peeing on themselves i guess)

Lastly, on the third day home, I noticed Effie is actually kinda dehydrated. Her skin could be 'collected' and stayed in a place which never happened before. I immediately gave her some pedialyte equivalent and made sure she ate more apple for the juice.

It's been 5 days since they're back. The dehydration and smell has gone away. Fur still a lil cracked. Emotionally/behavior wise, they look happy as ever..

I'm wondering what could have caused all these? Any thoughts?

While in our friend's place, Effie and Ellie were kept in a room on their own, with sufficient daylight and comfortable temperature. My only guess is that there were no air circulation, could get stuffy.... Related?

I have read somewhere that dry air can cause cracking. It's possible they missed you and we're stressed out. Especially being in a different house. They may have been scared. This would explain them peeing in their bag. They may not have wanted to come out. I'm sure they will be fine now that you are back. :)

It might be that your friend's house or the room they were in had low humidity and warm temps compared to what they're used to. Low humidity can make fur crack and they maybe didn't drink enough water to compensate. I'm glad their home and getting back into their routine.

Thanks for your comments! Benny and Jenny. Yea, they look much better now. It's probably just being away.

We're travelling to a different state for a couple of days by car next month, we're thinking of bring Effie and Ellie along, would like to see if that's better for them than being babysitted.